Basilan official calls out Cebu Pacific for ‘Tennun’ snafu
ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews / 03 March) – A member of the Basilan provincial board scored budget carrier Cebu Pacific Air for the erroneous appropriation of “tennun,” a traditional woven cloth that originated in the province, to Zamboanga City in its advertisement.
“Tennun belongs to Basilan,” board member Ahmed Ibn “Amin” Djaliv Hataman said.
He cited a provincial ordinance that he authored in 2023 declaring the Yakan Tennun as the official cultural symbol of Basilan.
“This is why we must work to preserve the origins of the culture unique to our province. While I understand that such lapses can occur, and I am confident that Cebu Pacific will quickly correct this mistake, this shows just how quickly our culture as Basileños can be mislabeled and appropriated to areas and people other than our own,” he added.
Hataman noted that “Zamboanga has much culture to be known for and to be proud about, and we are happy that the Yakan community there is thriving. But the origins of the weave – the origin of the weavers themselves – come from this island.”
In an advertisement on Facebook, Cebu Pacific stated: “The Tennun of Zamboanga. Discover the geometric tennun in Zamboanga, where you’ll also find gorgeous pink sands and delicious spanner crabs.”
Hataman said he is a calling out Cebu Pacific’s erroneous advertisement “to protect Basilan’s identity as the province is developing and moving forward from its past,” apparently referring to its dark history of terror caused by the Abu Sayyaf Group.
But he noted that his reaction is “more of an effort to correct a cultural misappropriation and to spread awareness of the origin of the Tennun.”
In the Basilan ordinance, art critic and curator Marian Pastor Roces was quoted as saying that the Yakan Tennun consists of a ” wide array of textiles made by the Yakans using their backstrap loom, which is said to be one of the widest backstrap looms in the Philippines. Using the traditional warp and weft technique, the Yakans originally used organic dyes to color their thread and create different geometric designs or patterns such as but not limited to memorized from generation to generation, form part of the Yakan memory as a people and community.”
In the ordinance’s explanatory note, it spoke of the “multicolored” Yakan Tennun as possessing a “cultural significance for the province of Basilan and its people,” being “widely accepted not only among Basileños but throughout the country as a product uniquely originating from the province of Basilan.”
It further stipulated that the institutionalization of the Yakan Tennun, as an official cultural symbol of the province, is an “expression and manifestation of the noble values and rich heritage of the Basileños, which depicts Basilan as a melting pot of various cultures.”
Hataman urged Cebu Pacific to issue an apology to the people of Basilan, and to rectify “this mislabeling of a textile so important to us, and one that defines our identity.”
Sarita Sebastian-Hernandez, Zamboanga City tourism officer, refused to comment on the matter saying, “I don’t want to make a fuss out of it.”
Cebu Pacific Zamboanga manager Precious Tarrazona has yet to reply. (Frencie L. Carreon / MindaNews)
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